It almost writes itself. I would be safe from this challenge since my daily word counts are too low to compete. Although if forced into that situation, my survival would all come down to if my ADHD was in hyperfocus mode or not. It would have to be new material too.
A water fast is no problem for at least 5 days until my gout would kick in. Water and bathrooms, ugh.
Theo, this made my day! And it's only 9am, affording me the luxurious win-win choice of trying to improve upon this moment, or simply doing nothing else and feeling fulfilled. I am very interested to see if this piece captures others' attention. It's very 'Lottery of Babylon'.
Stylistically, your work once again tells me I'm not solely insane, which is a wondrous feeling. I humbly offer up this little passage of my own about a similar but different spectacle (hopefully when I hit the Post button below it will be truncated for your optional convenience):
---
“I’m… I’m here to meet with Ricky’s people about a new show,” he said, announcing his compulsive appetite for another five-course meal of disavowed guilt. He had been fired from The Conflux over forty seasons ago, which in human terms equated to just under a year, or in real human terms, had been about seven hundred deaths; daily losers from the series, which now boasted two daily real-time episodes conducted in time zones twelve hours apart. This ensured a continuous stream of fresh content, or “fresh blood,” as the PDD production teams like to say internally.
"Don’t act like all of you weren’t a part of this. Don’t act like you don’t know that if people want to follow—actually, if we want people to follow—a story, it needs to be wrapped in tragedy. And maybe backed up with some fireworks. And if it takes care of some problems along the way, no one has a problem with it. They all want to see it,” Ricky concluded.
He wasn’t wrong. Filming the production on an unincorporated island in the South Pacific didn’t hurt either. Everyone involved with the show had really enjoyed the weather in that part of the world. Many of them had become good surfers, too. Provided they avoided the worst of the cyclone season, it was a nice escape from what had become increasingly less welcoming winters in Los Angeles.
“So back to my question, you’re saying if everyone’s complicit, then nobody’s responsible?” Henny probed.
It's done, out in the wild as my recent/first/best/worst novel. If you have appetite for long-form I'd be happy to send you a paperback. No pressure though. I've also posted a few extracts from it on the uncharted wasteland that is my substack.
Really enjoyed this one! The core idea, the mechanics, and the pacing all worked really well to a chilling climax. I’m planning to check out some of your earlier stories too. If they follow the same quality, you’ve got something special going. Keep it up!
It’s as grammatical as it’ll get. Once it’s done it’s out the door and I move on. Always have done. I love being in the zone but it’s no good revisiting it because the temptation to rip a lot apart is strong and it’ll never feel the same.
Never bothered with submitting to competitions and whatnot. It’s not why I do it.
Really? Wrote it this morning, tried really hard not to let it get away from me. Was a real pain in the ass not applying any details or genders to the authors too. They had to remain faceless.
Loved reading this and it's way better than watching the channel on youtube!!
Dumb and overused question perhaps, do we have "actual hope" as a civilization?
Or is it just an archaic word?
Hope was fleeting. Send the asteroid instead.
I "hope" no one makes an "AI Agent" over it
It almost writes itself. I would be safe from this challenge since my daily word counts are too low to compete. Although if forced into that situation, my survival would all come down to if my ADHD was in hyperfocus mode or not. It would have to be new material too.
A water fast is no problem for at least 5 days until my gout would kick in. Water and bathrooms, ugh.
Theo, this made my day! And it's only 9am, affording me the luxurious win-win choice of trying to improve upon this moment, or simply doing nothing else and feeling fulfilled. I am very interested to see if this piece captures others' attention. It's very 'Lottery of Babylon'.
Stylistically, your work once again tells me I'm not solely insane, which is a wondrous feeling. I humbly offer up this little passage of my own about a similar but different spectacle (hopefully when I hit the Post button below it will be truncated for your optional convenience):
---
“I’m… I’m here to meet with Ricky’s people about a new show,” he said, announcing his compulsive appetite for another five-course meal of disavowed guilt. He had been fired from The Conflux over forty seasons ago, which in human terms equated to just under a year, or in real human terms, had been about seven hundred deaths; daily losers from the series, which now boasted two daily real-time episodes conducted in time zones twelve hours apart. This ensured a continuous stream of fresh content, or “fresh blood,” as the PDD production teams like to say internally.
"Don’t act like all of you weren’t a part of this. Don’t act like you don’t know that if people want to follow—actually, if we want people to follow—a story, it needs to be wrapped in tragedy. And maybe backed up with some fireworks. And if it takes care of some problems along the way, no one has a problem with it. They all want to see it,” Ricky concluded.
He wasn’t wrong. Filming the production on an unincorporated island in the South Pacific didn’t hurt either. Everyone involved with the show had really enjoyed the weather in that part of the world. Many of them had become good surfers, too. Provided they avoided the worst of the cyclone season, it was a nice escape from what had become increasingly less welcoming winters in Los Angeles.
“So back to my question, you’re saying if everyone’s complicit, then nobody’s responsible?” Henny probed.
“Exactly.”
Oh, please tag me when this is done!!
And I'm glad this little story hit the spot for breakfast :D
Tagged! (did I do that right? shrugs)
It's done, out in the wild as my recent/first/best/worst novel. If you have appetite for long-form I'd be happy to send you a paperback. No pressure though. I've also posted a few extracts from it on the uncharted wasteland that is my substack.
Really enjoyed this one! The core idea, the mechanics, and the pacing all worked really well to a chilling climax. I’m planning to check out some of your earlier stories too. If they follow the same quality, you’ve got something special going. Keep it up!
Thank you!!! I was worried it didn’t flow as well as the others. I hope you enjoy the others too. Some of the earlier ones are more experimental.
That's why it worked. Try running it through Grammarly to pick up small errors, then submit it to something cool. It's that good.
Can’t be arsed lol
It’s as grammatical as it’ll get. Once it’s done it’s out the door and I move on. Always have done. I love being in the zone but it’s no good revisiting it because the temptation to rip a lot apart is strong and it’ll never feel the same.
Never bothered with submitting to competitions and whatnot. It’s not why I do it.
Fair dues. I'm a grammar nazi, as you may have guessed. But your stories are great and fun to read, so keep writing!
Whoo! This is amazing!
Really? Wrote it this morning, tried really hard not to let it get away from me. Was a real pain in the ass not applying any details or genders to the authors too. They had to remain faceless.